JP3466708B2 - Printing device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing device which performs a printing operation according to an instruction from an external control device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional printing device does not have a function of stopping a drive system in the printing device according to an instruction from an external control device.

[0003]

An optional device having independent control functions is attached to the periphery of the printing device instead of the printing device as a single unit, and a control device other than these optional devices (hereinafter referred to as an external control device) is installed. Is used to manage the whole as one printing system, it is necessary for the external control device to urgently stop the driving of the printing device and the peripheral devices depending on the situation of the entire system. May occur.

However, since the conventional printing apparatus as described above does not have a function of stopping the driving from the outside, it is not possible to stop the driving of the printing apparatus from the external control apparatus as needed. For this reason, for example, when an optional device such as a sorter is attached to the paper discharge section of the printer,
When a jam (paper jam) occurs in the sorter, the external control device cannot stop the printing device, so if there is paper being conveyed in the printing device, it will try to send the paper to the sorter as it is. .

Further, in order to avoid the above, the system must be constructed so that the printer itself can grasp the status of the optional device. With such a configuration, the efficiency of control sharing with the external control device managed by the host becomes extremely low, and the expandability of the printing system is lost.

[0006]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention relates to an option paper output device and a video for expanding printing data from a host computer into a bit map and outputting it to the printing device. An electrophotographic printing device connected to a controller, wherein when a jam occurs in the optional paper ejection device, the video controller outputs the jam based on information about the jam occurrence from the optional paper ejection device. Receiving means for receiving an emergency stop command from the video controller, and emergency stop control means for performing an emergency stop of the drive system in the printing device even when the paper is being conveyed in the printing device in response to the emergency stop command from the video controller. , Door open detection means for detecting door open,
A door open determination means for determining whether or not the door is open based on a detection result of the door open detection means after receiving an emergency stop command from the video controller,
After the door open determination means determines that the door is open, the door open determination means determines whether the door is closed based on the door open detection means. When it is determined that the emergency stop state is released, the emergency stop state is released.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a laser beam printer common to Embodiment 3. FIG. For convenience of explanation, in the embodiment, a laser beam printer having a configuration as shown in FIG. 1 is taken as an example of the printer main body, but the present invention is not limited to this.

In FIG. 1, a laser beam printer 1
Has a cassette 7 for accommodating recording paper.
Pickup roller 8 to pick up recording paper from
And a paper feed roller 9 for feeding the picked-up recording paper
Are provided in the laser beam printer 1. A conveyance roller 10 is arranged downstream of the paper feed roller 9, and a registration roller pair 11 for synchronously conveying the recording paper S is arranged downstream of the conveyance roller 10. An image forming unit 12 that forms an image by the laser light from the laser scanner unit 19 is disposed downstream of the registration roller pair 11. Further, a fixing device 13 is arranged downstream of the image forming unit 12, and a fixing paper discharge roller 14 is arranged downstream of the fixing device 13.

Then, downstream of the fixing and discharging roller 14,
The FU flapper 15 is arranged. FU flapper 15
FU (face up) the printed paper (recording paper)
It is divided into two destinations: the paper ejection port or the FD (face down) paper ejection port. A pair of FU paper discharge / conveyance rollers 16 is arranged downstream of the FU flapper on the FU side, and conveys the paper to the FU paper discharge port B. On the other hand, on the downstream side of the FU flapper on the FD side, a pair of FD paper discharge conveyance rollers 17 and FD paper discharge port roller
8 is arranged to convey the paper to the FD paper ejection port A.

The laser beam printer 1 is connected to an external device such as an optional sheet discharging device 2. The optional paper ejection device 2 receives the paper ejected from the FU paper ejection port B of the laser beam printer 1 and ejects the paper S printed on any of the four paper ejection trays C, D, E, and F by the flapper 20. Discharge.

Further, the laser beam printer 1 and the option paper ejection device 2 have an engine controller 3 and an option controller 4 for controlling the respective parts in the respective devices. A video controller 5 is connected as an external control device for managing and controlling the two printing devices. Further, a host computer 6 is connected to the video controller 5. Further, a simple signal such as a timing signal can be directly exchanged between the engine controller 3 and the option controller 4.

When data for printing is sent from the host computer 6, the video controller 5 develops the print data into a bit map, and the laser beam printer 1 and the optional ejector are passed through the engine controller 3 and the optional controller 4. The paper device 2 is moved to perform printing, and the paper is ejected to a predetermined paper ejection port.

For example, when the printed paper is discharged to the paper discharge tray D of the optional paper discharge device 2, the video controller 5 instructs the engine controller 3 to discharge the paper to the FU paper discharge port B and prints. At the same time as giving an instruction, the optional paper ejection device 2 is instructed to eject paper to the paper ejection tray D.

At this time, the engine controller 3 controls the above-mentioned respective parts of the laser beam printer 1 to convey the paper, and prints according to a video signal sent from the video controller 5 according to a known electrophotographic process,
Transport the paper to the FU paper exit. Further, a discharge advance notice signal is output to the option controller 4 at a predetermined timing before the printed paper reaches the FU discharge port.

On the other hand, when the option controller 4 receives the paper discharge instruction from the video controller 5, the option controller 4 waits until the paper discharge advance signal is output from the engine controller 3.
Then, when the paper ejection notice signal is output, the flapper 20 is driven to set the destination of the paper to the paper ejection tray D, so that the paper is conveyed to the tray D.

In the above operation, for example, when a jam occurs in the option paper ejection device 2, the option controller 4 immediately stops the drive system of the option paper ejection device 2 and the jam occurs. The information is sent to the video controller 5. At this time, if there is a sheet that is being conveyed toward the FU sheet ejection port B in the laser beam printer 1, the option sheet ejection device 2 is in a state where it cannot accept any more sheets, so the conveyance of the sheet is immediately stopped. Must. Here, the video controller 5 needs to instruct the laser beam printer 1 to stop driving, but since the conventional laser beam printer does not have a function of allowing the engine controller 3 to be stopped urgently from an external device. , I couldn't handle such a case. Therefore, the laser beam printer 1 of the present invention has a command for transmitting an emergency stop instruction from the video controller 5 to the engine controller 3, and immediately stops the drive system of the laser beam printer 1 when the command is received. It was done like this.

Next, the control configuration of the printing apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the control configuration of the first embodiment of the printing apparatus of the present invention. The engine controller 3 and the video controller 5 are connected by an interface 21. The interface 21 has a handshake-type serial communication line in addition to various signal lines such as a video signal, and various commands from the video controller 5 to the engine controller 3 and serial communication from the engine controller 3 to the video controller 5 by serial communication. We transmit various information.

The engine controller 3 also outputs the above-mentioned discharge advance notice signal to the option controller 4.

The functions related to the present invention in the engine controller include video controller communication means 23,
There are a print control unit 24, an emergency stop control unit 25, various drivers 26, and a state management unit 27.

The video controller communication means 23 controls communication with the video controller 5 through the interface 21, interprets various commands sent from the video controller 5 by serial communication, and performs various functions in the engine controller 3. Tell to. The printing operation is controlled according to the printing instruction from the video controller 5. The emergency stop control means 25 manages the emergency stop command from the video controller 5 and the emergency stop process according to the cancellation of the emergency stop command. The various drivers 26 control the driving of each unit of the laser beam printer 1. The status management unit 27 manages the overall control status of the laser beam printer 1.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the control of the emergency stop control means 25 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. At first,
In step S001 (hereinafter simply referred to as S001), an emergency stop command from the video controller 5 is waited for. When the emergency stop command from the video controller 5 is received through the video controller communication means 23 in S001, the process proceeds to S002, where each drive system in the laser beam printer 1 is stopped through the various drivers 26, and the state management is performed in S003. Inform the means 27 of the emergency stop. After that, S00
Wait for the emergency stop release from the video controller 5 at 4,
When the emergency stop cancellation command is received from the video controller 5, the state management means 27 is notified of the emergency stop cancellation, and the process returns to S001.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the control of the state management means 27 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. First, S1
At 01, the system waits for emergency stop information from the emergency stop control means. S
If the emergency stop information is received at 101, the process proceeds to S102 to enter the emergency stop state. Here, all the functions of driving the print control means 24 and other parts are stopped. And S
The emergency stop state of S102 is maintained until the emergency stop release information is received from the emergency stop control means 25 at 103. S10
When the emergency stop release information is received from the emergency stop control means 25 at 3, the process proceeds to S104 and the emergency stop state is released. By this step, the function stopped in S102 is restored. Then, the process returns to S101.

With the above configuration, the video controller 5
In the case of the occurrence of a jam in the option paper discharge device 2 as described above, the engine controller can be stopped by issuing an emergency stop command to the engine controller 3. Then, after confirming that the jam of the option paper discharge device 2 has been released, by issuing an emergency stop release command, the laser beam printer 1 can be returned again.

(Embodiment 2) In the emergency stop means of the first embodiment, after entering the emergency stop state by the emergency stop instruction from the video controller 5, the emergency stop state is kept until the emergency stop release instruction from the video controller 5 comes. However, in the second embodiment, it is considered that a jam has occurred due to an emergency stop command from the video controller 5, and a jam state is entered in the laser beam printer 1 main body. It is assumed that the jam release operation of is performed.

Here, in the laser beam printer according to the second embodiment, when a jam occurs, it is considered that the jam release operation is performed by opening the jam processing door (not shown) once and then closing the door.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the control configuration of the second embodiment (and the third embodiment described later) of the printing apparatus of the present invention. In the control configuration of FIG. 5, a door open detection unit 26 is provided in addition to the control configuration of the block diagram of FIG. 2 described in connection with the first embodiment. The door open detecting means 26 detects that a jam clearance door (not shown) is opened or closed. Since the door open / close detection method is already known, its explanation is omitted.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the control of the emergency stop control means 25 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. S201
To S203 are the same as S001 to 003 in FIG. 3 of the first embodiment. After receiving the emergency stop release command from the video controller 5, in S204, not the emergency stop release command from the video controller 5, but the state management means 27 waits until the emergency stop release information is output. Then, the state management means 27
If the emergency stop release information is output from, the process returns to S201. That is,
In the second embodiment, the jam state is entered by the reception of the emergency stop command, and the state management means 27 is in charge of the subsequent processing, so the emergency stop control means 25 is in the state management means 2.
Wait for release information from 7 only.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the control of the state management means 27 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. First, S3
At 01, it is checked whether or not the emergency stop information from the emergency stop control means 25 is output. If not, the process proceeds to S303 to check whether or not the door is open. If the door is not open, the process returns to S301. That is, S301 and S3
03 is waiting for a state change in the normal state. If the emergency stop information is output in S301, the process proceeds to S302 to enter the jam state. At this time, the function of driving the print control means 24 and other parts is stopped. Then, the jam state of S302 is maintained until the information of door open detection is received from the door open detection means 28 in S304. S304
If the information of door open detection is received at
Proceed to the 306 door open state. In S305, the jammed state is released and the emergency stop control means 25 is notified of the release of the emergency stop. Then, it progresses to S306 and enters a door open state.

Thereafter, the door open state of S306 is maintained until the door open information is received from the door open detection means 28 in S307. Similarly, when the information about the door open detection is received in S303, the same applies to S306 and S30.
Proceed to step 7.

When the door close information is received in S307,
The process advances to step S308 to release the door open state. The drive system control function is restored by this step.

As in this embodiment, the video controller 5 is released by releasing the stopped state on the laser beam printer 1 side only by the user performing a normal jam release operation.
The unnecessary processing between the laser beam printer 1 and the laser beam printer 1 can be omitted, and the processing can be simplified.

(Embodiment 3) The emergency stop means of Embodiment 2 unconditionally considers the occurrence of a jam by an emergency stop command from the video controller 5, but this Embodiment 3
Then, the jam state is set only when an emergency stop command is received when there is a sheet being conveyed in the laser beam printer 1.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the control of the state management means 27 according to the third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 of the third embodiment is almost the same as FIG. 7 of the second embodiment, but after receiving the emergency stop information from the emergency stop control means 25 in S401, S is performed.
At 402, it is confirmed whether the paper is being conveyed. This is determined based on the information on the sheet being conveyed, which is issued from the print control means 24. If the sheet is being conveyed in S402, S403 to S408
Jam processing, door opening, and closing processing. Since these correspond to S302 to S308 of the second embodiment, description thereof will be omitted.

On the other hand, if the sheet is not being conveyed in S402, the process proceeds to S409, in which the emergency stop release information is issued to the emergency stop control means 25, so that the emergency stop command issued from the engine controller 5 is ignored, and it is left as it is. S4
Proceed to 10 door open check.

As described above, by controlling, even if the engine controller 5 issues an emergency stop command, the laser beam printer 1 maintains the normal state as it is, if no special processing is required, The restoration process can be simplified.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention, the optional sheet discharging device and the video controller for expanding the data for printing from the host computer into a bit map and outputting it to the printing device are connected. An electrophotographic printer, which receives an emergency stop command output from the video controller based on information about a jam occurrence from the optional paper ejection device when a jam occurs in the optional paper ejection device Receiving means, an emergency stop control means for receiving an emergency stop command from the video controller and performing an emergency stop of a drive system in the printing device even when a sheet is being conveyed in the printing device, and detecting a door open. After the door open detection means and the emergency stop command from the video controller are received, the detection result of the door open detection means is detected. A door open judging means for judging whether the door is open based on the above, and after the door open judging means judges that the door is open, it is judged whether the door is closed based on the door open detecting means It has a door close judging means. Therefore, when the door close judging means judges that the door is closed, it is possible to cancel the emergency stop state.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a laser beam printer common to Examples 1 to 3 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the control configuration of the first embodiment of the printing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing control of an emergency stop control means according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the control of the state management means according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a control configuration of a printing apparatus according to a second embodiment and a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the control of the emergency stop control means according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing control of state management means according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing control of state management means according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Laser beam printer 2 Optional equipment 3 engine controller 4 Optional controller 5 Video controller 23 Video controller communication means 24 Printing control means 25 Emergency stop control means 26 Various drivers 27 State management means 28 Door open detection means

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 29/38 B65H 7/06

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. An electrophotographic printer connected to an optional paper discharge device and a video controller which develops data for printing from a host computer into a bitmap and outputs the bitmap to the printer. If a jam occurs in the optional paper ejection device,
Receiving means for receiving an emergency stop command output from the video controller based on the jam occurrence information from the optional paper discharge device, and sheet conveyance in the printing device in response to the emergency stop command from the video controller Even if an emergency stop control means for making an emergency stop of the drive system in the printer, a door open detection means for detecting a door open, and an emergency stop command from the video controller, A door open judging means for judging whether the door is open based on the detection result, and a door opening judging means for judging whether the door is open after the door open judging means judges that the door is open. A door close determining means for making a determination, and the door close determining means determines that the door is closed. When printing apparatus, characterized in that to release the emergency stop state. 2. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the emergency stop state is released when an emergency stop release command is received from the video controller. 3. The printing device further includes a paper ejection unit for ejecting the printed paper without sending the printed paper to the optional paper ejection device, and the optional paper ejection unit for ejecting the printed paper according to an instruction from the video controller. The printing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a control unit that controls whether the paper is sent to a paper apparatus or discharged by a paper discharge unit of the printing apparatus.